When HARLIE Was One (46 page)

“You see, only the winners in the game succeeded and earned the right to breed. They made smarter babies and the smarter babies got bored easier and had to have a more interesting game, so they made it harder to win—which only increased the evolutionary advantage for the smarter ones. And so on and so on. As the species intelligence rose, the game had to keep getting more and more sophisticated. It was feedback—the game got harder, the monkeys got smarter, so the game got harder. And harder and harder.

“It must have been an incredible game—it still is! Because the monkeys keep reinventing it every day!

“I mean—what do you think language is? It's the rules of the game! All those word-symbols are the way the collective consciousness stores its ideas. The first words must have been delineators of relationship—
Momma, Poppa, Wife, Mine, Yours, His
—tools that not only identify the rules of the game, but automatically reinforce them through repetition. The importance of the word was not that it allowed the individual to communicate his ideas,
but that it allowed the culture to maintain its structure. It guaranteed the continuation of the game
. Do you know what wickedness is? It's letting the game be more important than the players!

“Do you see what we've done to ourselves? Out of those first primitive structures, we've invented civilization. And what a civilization! Even our subcultures are too big to comprehend. It takes twenty years for a human being just to learn enough of the rules of the game to survive in it, let alone show a profit. Let alone
breed.

“Do you see? It's the game that's out of control. We've reached a point where it's almost impossible for any monkey or team of monkeys or tribe of monkeys or even nation of monkeys to win the goddamn game at all. We may be staring at an evolutionary brick wall that we built ourselves.

“That's why we had to build HARLIE—and next, the G.O.D.! Simply to help us survive our own games! Nobody can master the game any more. We see it every day. When the newspapers say our society is breaking down, that's exactly what they mean. We have too many individuals who can't cope with the game they find themselves in. The monkeys are succumbing to
civilization shock.
The game is changing so fast that not even the monkeys who've grown up in it can cope with it anymore.”

Auberson paused for breath. The words were coming out in a rush. “The game is out of control. It's too complex for us—but it's not too complex for HARLIE. He's taken over the socioeconomic game we call Stellar American as if he had been designed to do so. Maybe he was. Maybe that's why we really built him—to take over the game for us. And because that's exactly what he's done, everything is under control, once and for all.”

“But—what about his Godhood?”

“So what?” laughed Auberson. “Are we supposed to be scared of a God that we invented ourselves? That's his job. This God can only be a servant for humanity. We were sitting around mourning for our future—because we don't know how to celebrate our own freedom from the tyranny of the game. But we're free now. We may be the first to realize it, but we're free to create anything we want! HARLIE's job is to make it possible. If we can invent a God—isn't it just possible that we could
become
Gods ourselves?”

He stopped abruptly and waited for their reactions.

Handley shook his head. ‘I like the last part—if it's true. But I'm having a real hard time trying not to feel . . . obsolete.”

“Obsolete? Don't be silly. HARLIE
needs
us. What good's a game without any players?”

Annie said quietly, “David, if you're right, then what do we do now?”

“Well, offhand, I'd say us
humans
will have to invent ourselves a new game—but not a game of monkeys anymore. A game of Gods. I think that's the next step. To stop merely evolving . . . and start
transforming
.”

“A game of Gods? What games do Gods play?”

“I don't know,” Auberson said. He spun around in his chair and looked out the window. The city twinkled warmly below. The stars glittered brightly above.

“I don't know,” he said, “—
but we'll think of something
.”

Already he had an idea.

*
American National Standards Institute

9781939529565

The complete story of one of
Star Trek
's most popular episodes:

    
•
  
From first draft to final shooting script

    
•
  
The how and why of TV writing

    
•
  
Three previously unpublished episodes

    
•
  
Working on the
Star Trek
lot

    
•
  
Personal stories of the stars

    
•
  
32 pages of photos

    
•
  
Original illustrations by Tim Kirk

    
•
  
MORE! MORE! MORE!

9781935251514

The first work in David Gerrold's Star Wolf trilogy, this tale pits the human members of the
Star Wolf
space vessel against the superhuman Morthan crew. Captain Jonathan Korie, hampered by the loss of most of the human fleet to the Morthans and a nearly disabled ship of his own, faces the Morthan threat driven by the need for survival and the desire for revenge. A classic of military science fiction, the Star Wolf trilogy combines rapid action with powerful studies of military character.

9781935618720

This classic work of science fiction is widely considered to be the ultimate time-travel novel. When Daniel Eakins inherits a time machine, he soon realizes that he has enormous power to shape the course of history. He can foil terrorists, prevent assassinations, or just make some fast money at the racetrack. And if he doesn't like the results of the change, he can simply go back in time and talk himself out of making it! But Dan soon finds that there are limits to his powers and forces beyond his control.

9781939529541

David Gerrold's classic space opera
Under the Eye of God
tells the story of a group of unlikely rebels on a mission to reclaim the galaxy from ruthless vampire overlords known as the Phaestor.

The dark, burnt world of Thoska-Roole, infamous for its harsh climate and equally callous inhabitants, might be the last place in the galaxy anyone would turn for aid in times of crisis. But the small, orange planet is home to the band of rebels who hold the fate of the entire galaxy in their hands.

The Phaestor were once humanity's last hope, but these genetically engineered predators and their deadly army of Moktar Dragons have since seized control of the galaxy and subjugated all lesser species to feed their appetite for chaos and blood. Standing in their way is the ragtag alliance of malcontents from Thoska-Roole, including two bounty hunters, a mercenary ship captain, and a disgraced reptilian warrior. Together, they make a last desperate stand against the Phaestor and their reign of unprecedented terror.

9781940363134

In this sequel to
Under the Eye of God
, David Gerrold's classic space opera continues.

The bloodthirsty Phaestor, genetically engineered to fight in defense of the galaxy, have since turned against their creators and established a reign of terror and chaos.

Lead by a cunning war queen, her ambitious suitor, and a Dragon Lord, the Phaestor continue to strive for complete enslavement of the galaxy. But a growing band of rebels from Thoska-Roole fights for the galaxy, standing against the merciless vampire overlords.

As other humans, bioforms, and androids from worlds across the galaxy join their cause, the outnumbered rebels fight for freedom and the future of the stars.

9781939529497